October 22, 2016

Photos credits by Kaden Huntrods

MADISON, S.D. – Valley City State (N.D.) had two match points chances in the decisive fifth set Saturday afternoon at DSU Fieldhouse, but Dakota State (S.D.) rallied back with a 5-1 scoring run to claim a key 3-2 North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) volleyball marathon victory over the Vikings.  The Trojans won by the scores of 23-25, 25-17, 21-25, 25-23 and 17-15.

Dakota State won their second straight match to improve their overall record to 9-17 and 4-7 NSAA conference record.  Valley City State dropped their seventh straight match and fell to 7-19 overall record and 3-7 NSAA.

After all the NSAA conference matches were completed on Saturday, the Trojans moved into half-game behind Waldorf (Iowa) for fifth-place in the conference standings.  The Vikings fell to seventh place in the standings.

DSU and VCSU went through 10 ties in the opening set.  Leading 19-18, the Vikings went on to score four consecutive points to open up a 23-19 lead.  The Trojans answered back by scoring the next five of the six points to close the gap at 24-23.  VCSU secured the first set after a kill by Clarissa Olson for a 25-23 victory and 1-0 match lead.

The Vikings outhit the Trojans 14-9 in the first set.  VCSU hit .104 while holding DSU to .000 hitting percentage.

Dakota State roared to a 15-5 lead in the second set and never looked back, knotting the match at 1-1 with a 25-17 victory.  The Trojans smashed 12 kills in the set with a hitting efficiency of .190 compared to the Vikings 10 kills with a hitting percentage of .073.

Valley City State opened up the third set with an 8-2 lead before the Trojans rallied back to tie.  Trailing 16-11, the Trojans scored five consecutive points – including three points from VCSU's attacking errors – to knot the third set at 16-16. 

At 17-17, the Vikings went on a 4-0 run to grab a 21-17 lead and closed the third set with a 25-21 victory for a 2-1 match lead.  Valley City State registered 16 kills in the third set (.220 hitting percentage) while Dakota State recorded 11 kills (.115 hitting percentage).

DSU and VCSU recorded 13 ties in a see-saw battle in the fourth set.  At 23-23, the Trojans extended the match into the fifth and deciding set after VCSU committed a service error by Meagan Schwarzrock and an attack error by Taylor Balkan to give DSU a 25-23 win.

Valley City State outhit Dakota State 14-10 in the fourth set, but committed 10 attack errors with a hitting percentage of .080.  DSU hit .149 in the fourth set (3 errors in 47 attempts).

With DSU leading 6-4 in the decisive fifth set, VCSU went on to score four straight points to regain an 8-6 lead.  The Vikings kept their lead up to 14-12 before the Trojans mounted a furious comeback.

Dakota State saved two match point opportunities by Valley City State.  Tessa Weeldreyer smashed a kill to cut VCSU's lead to 14-13, followed by two consecutive attack errors committed by the Vikings to give DSU a 15-14 lead.

Taylor Sharp recorded a kill to even the fifth set at 15-15.  The Trojans secured the match at 17-15 after a pair of attack errors by the Vikings.

VCSU had 10 kills but recorded 8 attack errors in 31 attempts for a hitting efficiency of .065 in the fifth set.  DSU had 5 kills and 2 errors in 25 attempts for a hitting efficiency of .120.

Carly Rozell contributed a double-double of 13 kills and 21 digs for the Trojans.  Weeldreyer added 11 kills and 9 digs.  Kirstin Johnson and Taylor Stratton each tallied seven kills.  Kylie Martin had six kills.

Kaylee Vander Wal collected 21 set assists and 9 digs for Dakota State.  McKenna DeMoe added 20 assists, 2 service aces and 8 digs.

Chelsey Davis led the Trojans' defense with a match-high 36 digs.  Hannah Bauer added 10 digs and 3 service aces.  Weeldreyer registered three block assists.  Rozell had two block assists.

Five VCSU hitters recorded double-digits kills led by Sharp with 15 kills.  Olson and Megan Johnson each added 14 kills.  Leah Ruter had 11 kills.  Nicolette Bloomer recorded 10 kills.

Taylor Balkan produced a double-double of 52 assists and 20 digs for the Vikings.  Bloomer also had a double-double with 11 digs.  She recorded two service aces.

Charlotte Huschka earned 24 digs for Valley City State.  Hailie Wilds had 18 digs.  Schwarzrock had 12 digs.  Darrien Cantelo added 10 digs.

Both teams hit .114 in the match, but VCSU outhit DSU 64-47.  The Vikings committed 39 attack errors in 220 attempts while the Trojans had 23 attack errors in 211 attempts.

DSU had a better service percentage in the match, recording .928 service percentage with 5 service aces and 8 errors.  VCSU struggled from the serving line, registered .819 service percentage with 3 aces and 19 service errors.

A combined 230 digs recorded in the match, with the Vikings accumulating 121 digs.  The Trojans had a season-high 109 digs.

Valley City State had seven team blocks while DSU had five team blocks.

Dakota State steps away from their NSAA conference play on Wednesday, looking to extend their winning streak in Yankton, S.D.  The Trojans visit in-state rival Mount Marty (S.D.) with a first serve set for 7:30 p.m. at Cimpl Arena.

Valley City State continues their NSAA conference play as they stay on the road Wednesday evening, visiting Presentation (S.D.).

Nick Huntimer, Dakota State University Sports Information Director